What Does Soil Mean on a Washer? Here's How to Use the Setting

It can make all the difference.

You might have used your washer for years, only to one day find yourself staring blankly at the buttons, realizing that you don’t actually know what it all means. For instance, tucked somewhere between the temperature and spin settings is the soil level. Not sure what this means when it comes to your washing machine? You’re certainly not alone, but you shouldn’t sleep on these settings much longer.

Learning how to properly use your washer’s soil level setting can elevate your laundry game, helping you better address the individual care of your garments.

Your washing machine’s control panel or buttons may include a soil level setting. Essentially, it’s a way for you to tell your machine just how dirty your clothes are. “The more stained, smelly, or worn your clothes are, the higher soil level setting you should choose,” explains cleaning professional Dawn Arias-Spinelli, owner of Kleaner Image. By adjusting it, you affect either, or a combination of, two things: the duration of the wash cycle and the intensity of the agitation.

A sweaty gym outfit, muddy gardening pants, and a worn-once pajama set all call for different levels of attention, and the soil setting allows your washing machine to properly address them.

By customizing your wash cycle, you’re more likely to remove dirt, oil, and bacteria the first time around. This is especially important with clothing items that hang onto odor and heavily stained pieces, and it avoids unnecessary wear to your clothes. Overwashing (as well as too much agitation or excessively long cycles) can fade colors, stretch fabrics, and shorten the lifespan of more delicate garments.

The soil level function also helps you match your machine’s power to the actual need. If you’re washing lightly worn items on a heavy soil setting, you’re wasting water, electricity, and time—three things all worth saving!

While individual machines operate differently, using the soil level function on your washing machine is simple: Once you’ve loaded the washer and added your detergent, select the soil level that best matches your laundry’s condition. Then, choose your desired wash temperature and wash cycle, and run the machine as normal.

Usually, the soil setting is optional on washing machines. So if you don’t choose anything, the washer will default to a normal soil level.

While varying appliance brands might word things a little differently, most machines include three standard soil level options: Light (sometimes labelled "low," or "lightly soiled"), normal, and heavy (sometimes labelled "high," or "heavily soiled").

Clothes that come out intact, clean, and fresh—the first time? Who knew how much rode on that unassuming soil setting!